Obituaries

A year ago we ran a story about the weekly drum circle at the Ashby BART station. One of the people featured was Fast Eddie who for years had set the rhythms and inspired many of the other drummers to work on their techniques and to appreciate their African heritage. Last weekend there was a bowl of flowers at the base of the tree by the drum circle and a notice of a memorial service for Eddie. Someone came by and placed a candle with the flowers. Eddie Jones was killed on January 23. He was 62 years old. It was not a random killing. 

Yukon Hannibal drummed with Eddie for many years and admired his drumming but was was aware that Eddie had a life outside the drum circle. A life in the ghetto, where poverty is a fact of life and problems are solved with violence. A life where kids grow up seeing violence on the streets and the television but few alternatives. Yukon reflects that “Eddie's story is a sad story but a story that one day needs to be written.” But for now people can remember him as they move to the rhythms of the drummers he inspired.